Homecoming
by hes-beauty-hes-jason-grace
Summary: Au where Peter actually said yes to living in the Avengers Tower, and basically ends up with 10 extra parents...
1. Chapter 1

**A proper avengers fic is long overdue**

* * *

"So, what do you say, Parker? You get the awesome suit, and you finally get to be part of the team."

"So, I know the mature answer here would be no and that I've learned my lesson, that if I'm nothing without that suit then I shouldn't have it at all but...I really want that suit and I've wanted to be a part of this team for like, forever. That and I've learned that trying to take down bad guys by yourself is so much harder than doing it as a team.  
And I know you just apologised for that, Happy. Sorry to bring it up again."

Pepper looked at Stark, "He sounds just like you, Tony. Great job, you messed up the kid."

"What?! But I just did a whole thing with the tough love/ 'I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed' father figure role! I essentially just grounded him by taking the suit away!"

"Okay but he literally said 'I know the mature answer here but'. No offence, sweetie," she directed the last part at Peter.

"But-"

"Anyway," Pepper interjected," there's a whole room of antsy media personal out there, and I think I've held them off for about as long as I can manage. I think it's time for that announcement, don't you?"

* * *

The questions that streamed out from the media after that announcement dropped was almost deafening. Peter was glad to have Miss Potts and Mr Stark there to stop it from being even more overwhelming. He'd had an exhausting day, given all that had just happened in under the span of twenty four hours, but it wasn't over yet.

Tony led him down a long hall, pointing out rooms as they went on.

"That there is the original Avengers block. There's Nat's room-don't call her that or she'll kill you- ,Thor's, Banner's, and Cap's. Oh, and there's Clint's. Most of those rooms are empty either because they're off doing their own thing or because breakfast is a bit awkward after that whole civil war thing. It gets a bit annoying to keep asking Cap if he's picking that knife up to kill me or because he wants to butter his toast.  
Then that block there was where Vision held Wanda captive, that was fun, T'challa, that's Black Panther, has a room if he ever needs one and the same for Falcon.  
The only two occupied ones are Rhode's and Vision's., and here's you.  
Questions?"  
"That's a lot of information."  
Tony shrugged.  
"Well, I'll leave you here. I'm sure you'll need to pack."  
"Hold on, I have a few conditions about staying here."

He gave Peter a look, but didn't say anything.

"If I'm going to stay here, I still need to go to school everyday."  
"Ugh."  
Peter carried on as if he' hadn't been interrupted, "I almost failed my math test because of the civil war last time and I don't want that to happen again. I need to somehow explain this all to my aunt, and I want to pack some things from home."  
"First off, fine, you can borrow a car-"  
"I can't drive."  
"We'll work something out then."  
"-Secondly, I think you'll need to come clean and tell her. It'll be a lot easier than trying to come up with a lie to explain all this. And thirdly, this room has anything you could ever need.  
But fine.  
Just by the way, you don't have to ask my permission every time you want to go somewhere. Operation baby monitor is officially over- or, at least slightly less active."

And with that in lieu of a goodbye, he walked off.

* * *

Living in the Avengers Tower, Peter soon realised, was like living with ten extra parents.

It started with the little things.

On one especially cold day, shortly after he'd moved in, he found an extra sweater tucked into his school backpack. Over time, this became a common occurrence, until he could always expect to find a jacket neatly folded over his text books, there if he ever needed it.  
Then, he found a tiny device sitting on his bed side table. On closer inspection, he discovered that it was paired with a note; 'for that kid that won't leave you alone at school'.

It didn't take a genius to figure out where that came from.

He picked it up to slide it into his dresser. While he appreciated the gesture, he really didn't think it was necessary.  
Then he reconsidered and slipped it into his backpack. Getting a hold of Stark tech would make Ned's entire week, even if it was something he couldn't use. (Not if Peter had any say in the matter)

* * *

The other Avengers took a bit longer, though. He endured a lot of awkward silences whenever they were in a room together, since none of them- Peter included- really knew what to say.

He wasn't around them very often; he was either in his room doing homework or over at his aunt's. (It's taken _a lot_ of convincing and an intervention from Mrs Potts in order for her to agree to him staying in the Avengers Tower and she'd only agreed on the condition that he visited three times a week at the very bare minimum. He still couldn't believe that she'd actually said yes though)

But even the few times he saw them, the silence was very clearly there.

In fact, it took a few days for it to be broken at all, and all it took was a single statement. And it was Pepper who delivered that statement.

"So... I take it Tony hasn't gotten around to the introductions yet.  
This is Peter Parker. He's the one that Tony recruited for the 'Civil War' thing."

"I wasn't sure at first," Tony started, "but in light of his recent actions, I think Parker is ready to be an Avenger."

There was silence for a few beats, until Barton started up;

"Wait so...Stark is in charge of him?"

"That kid is screwed," finished Romanov

The rest of the Avengers all nodded in agreement.

* * *

 **I started writing this literally within an hour after finishing the movie. I think I have a problem.**

 **So anyways, I know this chapter is a bit ehh but I have big plans for this fic, so stay tuned!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I got a pretty big response so I just wanted to say thank you for all the follows, favourites, and reviews.**

 **Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Peter walked through from his room one day, only to find an intimidating man with an eyepatch sitting at the kitchen table.  
He froze, not yet sure if he should pick up the heavy looking rolling pin that had been left on a nearby counter.

The man looked him over for several uncomfortable moments.

"You must be Parker. I'm Nick Fury, the man behind the Avengers."

Peter didn't say anything, just moved his hand closer to the pin.

"I heard about your… involvement in what we're now referring to the Civil War between Rogers and Stark."

His hand was on the counter top now.  
If this man was indeed a threat, how had he gotten past Stark security?

"And I heard that you got integrated into the Avengers too."  
He looked Peter over;" Look a little young."

Peter licked his dry lips nervously.  
Did the Avengers tower have security measurements? He assumed so.

"But anyway," he had not once dropped his harsh stare throughout the entire monologue.  
"If we're going to do this, we need to do it right."

He stood up suddenly and Peter lunged, holding the rolling pin out in front of him in an attack stance.

Fury looked at him, amused, probably because there was a sixteen year old boy waving a baking implement at him, and then waved his hand for Peter to follow.

He figured he might as well. After all, he hadn't been attacked. Yet.

* * *

"You know, when you said Avengers initiation, "this isn't exactly what I had in mind," Peter said as he looked around frozen yoghurt store.

Fury raised an eyebrow, "It's tradition. I found Banner at a bar, Stark during one of his flights of self-destruction at a doughnut shop, and Romanov tried to kill me."

That man didn't lose a hint of his dangerous air, not even in the middle of this bright pink room with all its cutesy decorations that paraded around the walls.

Peter thought about calling Tony. He should probably call Tony, just to let him know.  
He didn't call Tony.

"Although, Stark's 'flights' of self-destruction are never ending," the man finished.

He looked up and Peter followed his gaze.

Nat had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Maybe eye patch guy had called her. Fury, he corrected himself.

The shop owner eyed their table warily. The other two didn't seem to notice.

"Much like his 'flights' of narcissism, reckless behaviour, and being an ass," she interjected.

They seemed to be the only customers there.

"I don't think I should be listening to you guys talk about Mr Stark this way," Peter said quietly, picking at his chocolate yoghurt to avoid looking at them.

They ignored him.

"You know he blew up a plane once, right? And then he yelled at you and took away your suit for doing the exact same thing...But with a boat."

"He also accidentally created an AI that almost wiped out a whole city- although Banner did have a part in that one."

"Also he gave his home address to a national terrorist," Nat said. "And then he was surprised when someone with a helicopter flew by and blew up his house."

"How…how do you two know all that?"

"I've got my eye on you. All of you. At all times."

He fixed Peter with another one of his stares that made the hair stand up at the back of his neck.

"I had to wear his Iron Man suit and save his ass, and then I had to save him again."

"Miss Potts? When did you come in?"

"You can call me Pepper, sweetie."

Then; "He spent a couple of months designing all these new suits and then like an hour later he blew all of them. It was supposed to be some sort of heroic gesture apparently."

"He shut down his whole company's source of income on a whim. We don't even know how he's still a billionaire. I mean, how's he earning an income?"

If the store owner looked confused before, he was terrified now;  
"Where the hell do you guys keep coming from?!"

* * *

After the whole affair of what was supposed to be an 'initiation' and had somehow descended into Tony being verbally abused by the Avengers, Fury turned to Peter.

"I don't know why they can't be that organised when an actual attack happens. When I tell them the world is in danger, it takes them several days, but as soon as they sense shit-talking about Tony, they're all here.  
Anyway, about you joining the Avengers; I think you still have a bit of work to do. I need you to build a relationship with the others. They will be your teammates after all. You need to learn to actually fight, and you need to learn that rolling pin is not an acceptable form of defence. I look forward to having you on my team Parker."

"Th-thank you."

He fixed Peter with one last look," And remember; I've got my eye on you."

And with that, he left.

* * *

"So Parker, about responsibility…"

"With all due respect, Mr Stark, you gave your home address to a terrorist."

He stared at Peter for a few minutes, lost for words, then he wheeled on Natasha.

"Romanov, what did you do?"

After that, Peter didn't get quite so many lectures from Tony.

And if he tried, Natasha or any one of the Avengers always seemed to have a story about one of the many, many mistakes Tony had made in his time.

It wasn't very long until the lectures stopped altogether.

With the way things were going, bonding with his future teammates didn't seem like such a daunting task after all.


	3. Chapter 3

**This has almost 200 kudos on ao3 and 50 follows here? Holy shit, thank you all so much.**

* * *

It was a sleepless kind of night. Peter had worked late into the early morning on two all but forgotten English essays.  
The buzz from the mugs of coffee strewn across the kitchen table still clung to the corners of his brain long after the work was done, and he found himself tossing and turning from one unsuccessful stretch of hopeful sleeplessness to the next.. It was about an hour until he finally called it quits.  
He swung his feet over the side of his bed and onto the frigid wooden flooring below. He missed the feeling of cheap carpet cutting into his skin that he had grown so accustomed to.

The sounds and lights from this part of the city accosted him as he made his way through the living room towards the glass sliding door that led out into a balcony.

The cold night air was steeling, but he couldn't shake the feeling of longing.  
Even though home was just a few miles away, it felt more like light years  
He could go back right now. He wanted to. But he just couldn't bring himself to leave.  
 _Tomorrow_ , he promised. _Straight after school. You can go home._

He watched the cars trundle down the dark streets as he leaned with folded arms over the top of the metal railing.  
People almost the size of ants leaned against walls and waited, their forms illuminated by the scattered streetlamps. Bands of young men weaved drunkenly across the pavement while sober women in heels and pencil skirts navigated their way down the streets. An exhausted looking person in a McDonald's uniform walked with slumped shoulders back to their apartments after a long night shift. Women with smudged makeup and messy hair talked and laughed loudly at a joke one of them had made. A train too far away to hear properly made a distan clattering as it moved by. Lights glittered up and down the clustering of tall buildings.  
At least his city was the same, no matter where he was. The thought comforted him a little.

"You should be asleep."  
He almost jumped out of his skin at the sudden sound.  
"Woah, easy, kid. It's just me."  
"So should you," Peter retorted as soon as his heart rate had returned to normal.

He looked back down at the city as he considered Tony. Tony made it pretty clear that he cared about him. He yelled at him a lot, sure. But he was always willing to drop everything just to help Peter clean up his messes. (Witht the exception of that one time he was in India)  
Peter had overheard Mr Stark being described in a number of ways during his stay in the tower-and none of them flattering. Blunt, closed-off, arrogant, narcissistic. "A bastard" (Clint). "An ass" (Ms Potts.)  
He did tend to make himself very hard to read.

But with Peter...

He wouldn't say Tony exactly wore his heart on his sleeve, but there was definitely something there.

Besides; one doesn't spend ages tinkering with and improving upon a suit tirelessly for someone they couldn't care less about.  
The first thing Tony had done was reinstall the tracker in his suit, and honestly, Peter didn't mind. It was reassuring to know that someone had his back.

"So. What do you think of the Avengers?"  
Peter went off almost immediately.  
"Oh man, they're awesome. I think Black Widow could kill me and I'd say thank you. Doctor Banner seems really nice and I'm a huge fan of the fact that he can turn into a giant green monster. Director Fury is terrifying. It's amazing. And just Hawkeye and- and... ahhh, they're so cool. I don't think they really know what to do around me though."

"I wouldn't worry about it, kid. They can be a little slow on the uptake at first. But they really start to warm up to you after you take down an alien army together."

"Really?! That'd be awesome!"

"But I don't know if I really belong here, Mr Stark."

"Don't call me that."

"Sorry. It's just they're so amazing...and I'm just a kid in spandex."

"Well Spiderling, I'm just a man in a tin can."

"Yeah but you're Tony Stark! Engineering genius, general badass."

"Language."

"Sorry."

"...Did I just say language?" Mr Stark- _Tony,_ he corrected himself- seemed to be reconsidering his entire existence.

Neither of them said anything for a while.

"You're pretty okay, kid," Tony addressed the buildings below him, "I mean, balancing saving people, helping out with the avengers, and achieving a 4.0 GPA is not exactly easy."

Peter turned his gaze upwards. The night sky was beautiful. The half-crescent moon was an off yellow, almost golden in colour, and the sparse scattering of stars stretched out into infinity. The sky was a delicate ombre of blues. He could stare at it forever.

After what seemed like an age of quiet filled only by the occasional humming of a distant car engine and the faint noise of crickets chirping, Tony spoke up again.

"Hey, kid, do you want to help me out in my workshop?"

* * *

 _Don't freak out, Peter. Don't freak out. It's just Tony Stark's garage. It's just a room filled with top-tier technology and innovative creations by the world-renowned engineering genius himself. Just a work bench filled with gadgets you will probably never ever get a chance to see again. It's not like you've dreamed of being able to see Anthony Stark's inventions for about as long as you've been alive._

"You okay, Spiderling? Please don't pass out. Your aunt would kill me."

"I uh- yeah," he squeaked.  
"I mean," he cleared his throat and tried to deepen his voice. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Frog in your throat?" Tony said. Then;  
"Anyway, I'm working on a new Iron Man suit, but it still needs some calibrations. I thought since you seemed so eager to tamper with your suit last time, you might want to help me with mine."

Peter ducked his head and strolled over to the blueprints.

* * *

Tony hadn't come to bed last night, so Pepper wandered down to his garage to find him. She wondered why she dealt with him, honestly, as she carefully entered the passcode to his workshop with one hand and held a tiny white cup of espresso in the other.  
 _He's so much work_ , she thought to herself as she navigated her way over grease-covered rags, wrenches and discarded machine parts. Which was honestly killer work in her tiny high heels.

Peter was lying across the floor, upper half of his back leaned against the bottom of a work bench. He was snoring softly and there was one of Tony's jacket's was propped up under his head.

Tony was still working quietly. She handed him the cup and he downed it.

He tried to kiss her but she pushed him back.

"You stayed up all night," she said quietly.

"I was walking on something."

He tried again and she let him this time, then pulled back with a sigh.

"You're a terrible influence on him," she said, looking at Peter.

"What?! What did I do?"

"Shhh," she quietened him hurriedly and looked over to see if Peter was still asleep. He was.

She took off her suit jacket and draped it over his sleeping form. He was late for school but she let him be. She figured he could use a break. She could always swing by his aunt's house (and leave Tony behind so she wouldn't have to deal with his incessant flirting with her) and explain.

She glanced over once more at Peter- He was starting to look like a Stark in training- then headed out.

* * *

 **I just had to make a frog joke.**

 **Anyways, I actually liked this chapter so I hope you guys enjoyed it too.**

 **Just a warning that tests are coming up so updates won't be very frequent.**


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter is not my favourite. But it was prewritten so this is all I have to submit right now.**

 **Anyways, hope you guys enjoy!**

* * *

Apparently, learning to fight with Natasha Romanov involved a lot of near death experiences.

This is something Peter quickly learned, even if he learned nothing else during their session.

She took him into what appeared to be a gym and handed him a small mountain of safety equipment.

He tried to protest that it wouldn't be necessary, but one look from her quickly shut him up.

Finally, Peter's Avengers training had begun.

He wasn't a part of the team yet, he still had a lot to learn.

And the first step of his training was learning to fight with the Black Widow.

She definitely wasn't the easiest. In fact, Peter probably should have started with someone with a bit more patience.

But she was one of the only Avengers who was around, all the others where off on their own personal missions. And she had offered after all.

He clenched his fist, testing his movements. As expected, they were much more redistricted.

He mimed a quick uppercut. Or what was supposed to be quick.

This didn't seem good, seeing how all the Avengers treated her with a very obvious air of weariness.

Mr Stark, Tony, included. This was something to be considered; he seemed to cover up all his uncertainty with a fake sense of narcissism, yet he made no effort to hide the fact that he kept Agent Romanov at a cautious distance.

Mr Stark's smoke screen had been something Peter had struggled with.

At first he hadn't been able to see past it- in fact, the majority of his team still couldn't- but after moving to the tower, Peter had quickly come to see him for who he was and how much Mr Stark really did like him, no matter his pretences.

The man in question had just finished up with one of the punching bags in the corner.

He stood back, glistening with sweat and drawing heavily from his water bottle, to watch them.

He and Agent Romanov nodded at each other.

Then, she walked up onto a section of floor in the middle of the room lthat was padded with several mats.

He had felt confident before, but now Peter gulped at how thin the blue mats covering the floor actually were.

This was going to hurt.

She stepped towards him and before he was on the floor before he knew what hit him.

On second thoughts, he was glad he had the safety equipment.

He stood up again and took a fighting stance. This time he could actually see her swing. He did his best to block her, but he was knocked hard against the floor again.

Again and again he stood up, braced himself, then got taken down before he could act.

This time, he took a few minutes to strategize before he dove back into it.

He stood up slower this time and rolled his aching joints. He took his time, cracking his neck, rubbing some life back into his shoulders.

Then he swung his hands into perfect fists and nodded.

"Okay."

His usually went more on the defence than offence side, but maybe it was time to adapt.

It was the only way he could think to win this.

She threw her leg out for a sharp kick and he saw his chance.

She was aiming for the head this time, so he ducked under her attack and grabbed her by the ankle, intending to knock her down for once.

She maintained perfect balance.

Unperturbed by his retaliation, the agent violently pulled her leg free. Peter went flying back a few metres onto the floor.

He groaned.

*skip line*

After that it was all pretty much the same as before;

Romanov had him down for the count before he could even move.

But there was that one small victory that left him feeling not totally beaten.

After about the thousandth time Peter hit the mat, she finally called it quits.

The agent stretched out her arms, taking a few minutes to catch her breath.

Then she extended an arm to him.

He stared at it, she'd been making use of tricks like these the whole afternoon.

"It's not a trap, I promise," she smiled.

He took it slowly and true to her words she helped pull him back up again.

"You did well today, Kid. Not a lot of people can get even one move on me."

He finished off the training stiff and sore and certain that he'd be more bruise than skin in the morning.

It was obvious that session had been more about teaching Peter that he had a lot to learn than about training.

But the lesson had been appreciated.

He was just a sixteen year old in spandex after all.

And it would be dangerous to forget that.

Mr Stark walked out behind him and clapped him on the back.

"You did good today."

Peter winced. His shoulders had taken the brunt of Agent Romanov's attacks.

Tony noticed and turned to her from across the room,

"Go easier on my kid next time."

* * *

 **Hey if there's anything you want me to write or you have a prompt for this fic, feel free to leave your suggestions.**  
 **User Rachelelizabeth left one for me on the last chapter that I'm currently working on.**

 **Thanks! -Hes Beauty**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey hey it's been a while, I know! It's near the end of my school year so the work load has been insane. Updates will probably be pretty sparse until December when the school year is finally over so sorry about that!**

* * *

Tony was at his workplace. This is where he had been for the past few weeks. As usual when he was working on a project, all other things fell away; food, sleep, basic human necessities. He'd gotten a collective of five hours sleep this whole week and even then, that'd been because Pepper had intervened.  
"Tony, sweetie, if you don't come to bed, I will chloroform and drag you there myself."

He'd taken into consideration a few ideas Peter had had about a few upgrades he could make to his suits. The ideas were rough, but with a bit of tinkering, they could make for a huge improvement.  
Tony made a mental note to let Parker in his garage more often.

Tony considered him. He was smart, no doubt about that. He'd seen Peter's projects- tech he'd pulled out of dumpsters and raised from the dead. He wasn't exactly an innovative genius, but with a bit of finesse, he could be a real help to Tony's work.

Banner had apparently worked this out too. He'd pulled Peter away into his lab whenever he could and the two spent hours cooped up in there. They'd gotten along like a house on fire as soon as Parker had managed to pull himself together enough to work with him instead of just stand and fawn over his idol..

"Come on, come on," he muttered to his work.  
"F.R.I.D.A.Y. cut the music, I need to hear myself think here."

He had hit a particularly finicky patch of circuits that just didn't want to cooperate. He turned the ball of loose wires and machine parts around in his hands, scrutinizing it for any obvious issues. Nothing. He fished out a screwdriver and pried it apart to look a little deeper.

"Magnify that," he instructed the AI.  
"Hmmm, okay, I think I've got it now. "

"Sir, you have an incoming call," F.R.I.D.A.Y. informed him.

"Ignore it."

Anyone close to him would be well familiar with how he got when he was working on a project. They knew better than to bother him with anything less than life or death. And if the call came from anyone else, that narrowed it down to important business calls, which he didn't want to deal with anyway.

He followed the line of wires until he found the offender and its corresponding wire. He then used a pair of pliers to carefully separate them from the others, then solve them together. His phone was still buzzing half heartedly, but he barely noticed it.

He lowered the newly solved wire back into their place and pressed one of the buttons on the side. It hummed to life immediately. He felt a wave of sweet relief- he'd been on this particular piece for hours now- and then it stopped and exploded in a stream of sparks. He swore under his breath.

"Dummy, what did I say about fire extinguishers."

The AI had had one poised over his now ruined work, but it lowered it at his voice.

He wiped his hands that had grown a second skin of grease on a stray rag. He really should call it a day. He'd been running on nothing but caffeine for the past few days and he'd gone without a shower for longer than he'd care to admit. He could do with some serious rest.

But he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep until he'd figured this out.

He decided to settle for a shower instead. A nice, long, steaming shower to clear his head and give him time to think. Then right back to his work bench. Yes.

"Sir, your phone is ringing again," the female voice intoned.

He waved a hand, "I'm busy."

"Sir it's from Peter Parker."

He stopped in his tracks.

"Okay, then send it to voice mail."

He threw his now significantly dirtier rag back on his desk and headed out his garage for the first time in two days. The light was so bright it nearly blinded him, which seemed- screw that, was definitely- unhealthy but he'd come to far to actually start taking care of himself now.

* * *

He came back to his project feeling a lot better. He had a fresh pair of clothes and a cup of espresso in hand. He could do this.

"Sir, that voice mail?"  
"Yeah, go ahead," he said absently.

He had already started rereading over the design sketches.

"Hey Mister Stark,"

He immediately looked up. Peter sounded panicked.

"I'm kind of in a situation here," the voice mil continued.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y. see if you can trace the call location."

"On it," she replied.

"So if you could help me out, that's be greatly appreciated," Peter finished.

He tried to stem the flow of images; Peter bleeding out on the ground somewhere, cold and alone.

"The call seemed to come from Mr Parker's room in the tower."

That seemed strange but he had no time to mull it over.

"Keep a suit ready," he instructed the AI.

He was out of the room before he could even get her response.

* * *

Peter was standing on his bed. He was pale and his eyes were shifting nervously. Tony wondered what could have done his. Even when faced with imminent death at the hands of The Vulture- twice- Peter hadn't looked even half this scared.

"Oh, Mr Stark, thank goodness."

"What happened, Parker? Where's the guy who's trying to kill you?"

He pointed a shaky finger at the wall.

Tony squinted, "What? I don't-"

And the he saw it.

" _Are you kidding me_ , "he asked, question too far in disbelief for even a question mark to reach it. "A spider? Really? You can fight along side earth's mightiest heroes and come face to face with your own mortality without flinching, but it's a spider that gets you?  
You're _Spider_ -man. Getting bitten by a radioactive spider is how you got your powers!"

"And that wasn't exactly an encouraging experience!  
Just kill it...please."

"Fine, fine."

Tony shook his head and mumbled incredulously to himself, but complied. He zeroed in on the offender, slowly, careful not to startle it away. Harnessing his quick reflexes that he'd picked up through much practice in doing his best not to die, he aimed and then hit the target...

Only to find that the target had disappeared.

Peter curled up into a ball and, if it was even possible he turned paler.

He spotted it a few feet down and lunged at it again with the same outcome. Again and again until the spider disappeared for good. He was at it at for a questionable amount of time- until his lack of sleep seriously caught up with him and he knew he would have to head to bed now or he _would_ pass out.

Tony searched every single inch of the wall, scrutinized the floor with accuracy to rival his blasters, and inspected every surface of the pieces of furniture in that room, all to no avail. Not a single trace of that spider anywhere.

He allocated F.R.I.D.A.Y. as his replacement, but not even she could help. He even set Romanov on the job, but the arachnid outsmarted even the world's best secret agent. He was even tempted to give the job to Hulk.

Peter refused to set foot into that room until they found and killed the spider.

They never did.

* * *

 **¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ This chapter is absolutely ridiculous and I have nothing to say for myself other than that I found out Tom Holland has a fear of spiders and I just had to.  
** **Hey so what do you guys think? I feel like there's wayyy too much Tony and that I need to integrate more character screen time. So if you do indeed agree, who would you like to see more of? I'm working on some Bruce/ Peter science bonding time as per request, as well as the school thing Rachelelisabeth asked for, but if you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave me a review!**

 **See you in the next 70 years it takes me to update! Thanks so much for your patience!**


	6. Chapter 6

**So, so sorry about the wait. Life sure has been a ride, let me tell you. Also I got hit with the biggest bout of writers block. Anyway, here we are.**

* * *

"Parker, you're late for the third consecutive day this week."

"I uh-" he hurridley sifted through the contents of his brain, desperately searching for an excuse.

"It's okay, he was off hanging out with his buddies the Avengers," Flash piped up.

"Well, actually-"

"Save it," he hurled a crumpled piece of paper at Peter's shoulder.

"Mr Thompson, please save your comments for someone who actually wants to hear them."

The class giggled. Flash's expression darkened dangerously.

 _Uh oh,_ he thought.

"As for you, Peter," she continued, "one more day and you'll land yourself in detention."

His English teacher ran her eyes across the classroom, effectively killing the chatter around them.

"Now then, finish taking down the notes _without_ the interruptions this time."

Peter's time with the Avengers had been seriously eating away at his schoolwork. What with helping Tony in the workshop after school, his homework had to be pushed into the late hours of the night. He still couldn't believe he was finally part of the Avengers, but his excitement was soon consumed by sheer exhaustion.  
Miss Potts had noticed, of course, and speculated that all this time with the team really didn't seem to be doing much good for him. He'd hurriedly assured her that it was fine. But he also did note that his time with Tony had significantly shortened.

He glued his eyes to the clock, willing the time away with every painfully-passing second. This lack of attention caught his English teacher's eye and called him out about as much as was possible without solely relying on his answers. Luckily, he was prepared. He'd prepared weeks in advance as a result of his close-call with suspension. So his current inaction hadn't caught up with him. Yet. Although that pending problem was steadily approaching.

He stifled a yawn. He wasn't as physically tired anymore. Nat had let him off after the sessions had increased in the ass-kicking part and decreased in the educational part. But his body was sparsely covered in still-yellowing bruises. He'd taken to changing in the bathroom stall when he had to to avoid serious concern. Really, they looked a lot worse than they felt. Peter usually found that he healed pretty quickly, but Natasha Romanov was apparently a special case.

The bell sounded suddenly, snapping him back to himself. Apparently time had finally started passing when he'd stopped willing it to. Still, he felt like he'd aged several years and the school day had merely started. He slung his school bag over one shoulder and tried to ignore Flash's shoulder crashing into him. The look the other boy shot at Peter let him know that this was far from over. He looked up to see the same expression painted in his teacher's raised eyebrow. This was going to be a very long day.

* * *

Peter frantically scratched through his locker.

 _No, no, no please no._

Things flew to the floor now with a curse accompanying every crumpled up piece of paper, every empty food wrapper; _why hadn't he cleaned up more?_

He swore quietly, earning himself a glare from a passing janitor. He mumbled an apology.

The third scouring of his locker had proven to be just as fruitless as the rest. His world history project- one of the only projects he'd worked on- had seemingly disappeared. This meant all the consecutive all-nighters that he'd been pulling for the past week had been all for nothing. His history teacher lived by one motto and one motto alone; "I don't accept work alone."

He sank to the floor and pulled his knees up to his chest, burying his face against his jeans and sighing. This day just couldn't get any worse.

As if following some unseen command, Flash materialised a few feet down the hall. Peter officially decided that this was the timeline god had abandoned.

The other boy took his time, smirk growing with every step he took. Peter began pleading with the empty sky, hoping to at least converge with a less hopeless timeline.

A shadow darkened the floor. He dropped his head back onto his knees.

"Parker," purred the other boy happily.

"Parker," called a voice down the hallway.

Peter looked up. Tony. What was he doing here?

He took off his sunglasses and folded them over his suit pocket. Tony looked over the scene ahead of him and suddenly his expression turned icy. Flash backed away a few inches, a startled look on his face.

"Pepper wouldn't stop nagging me until I brought you this," he said as made his way over and extended the prodigal project to him.

Peter unfolded himself to get up and take it, confused.

It wasn't like any of the Avengers to do something like this. They seemed to do their best to stay out of Peter's personal life. Even Pepper only really got involved when things involved Aunt May- the two of them had become fast friends very quickly. She was probably the only reason she let Peter stay in the Stark Tower. Although she asked for updates at least once every few days or so. He could tell she still worried even with Pepper in the picture.

"Mr Stark I-"

"Don't get used to it, okay kid?"

"Thank you _so_ much, sir," he managed to get out.

"Tony," he corrected.

"And hey, try to get back on your feet with the school stuff. I miss having the extra pair of hands at the workshop."

Peter smiled.

Tony looked over pensively at Flash, who had been silently watching the whole encounter. Then he reached down to fidget with something that looked like a watch on his wrist. An armoured glove, painted in the typical Iron Man colours, eased itself over his hand and stopped just underneath the start of his jacket sleeve. He held it up for a second. Flash bolted.

He waited until the boy had slipped into a classroom, and then turned to leave- flipping on his sunglasses on the way out.

"Take care of yourself okay, kid?"

Peter just stood there for a moment, trying to process everything. He still had a whole day ahead of him, but things were starting to seem a whole lot easier. Maybe he wasn't as alone as he'd thought.


End file.
